Broken Hill, NSW to Port Augusta, SA - 418km (1,342km)
The road to Port Augusta is a well worn one, having done it a few times already I wasn't that keen to take it on again. It's a fairly straight, flat road, through windswept plains, parched dry by relentless sun.
The excitement comes from the wildlife, the native and the feral, and whether you will have to dodge the dead ones or be collected by a suicidal live one.
This ride down the Barrier Highway was a little different, yes the goats were out, as were the kangaroos and the odd emu however, it was the human interaction that made the ride different.
The first indication was what was to come at the town of Cockburn, which sits on the border of New South Wales and South Australia. Ordinarily it's an unremarkable town, once a railway town servicing the line between the mines of Broken Hill & Silverton and the shipping towns of Port Augusta and Port Pirie. Now it's like so many of the towns on this line, a dwindling ghost of it's former self.
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| Phil, do you really have to? |
Of course the obligatory photo opportunity on front of the border sign had to be taken and as I aligned myself to ensure the bike and the sign where perfectly framed I didn't notice a ghostly figure lurking in the background.
No, it was that of a former rail worker or a pioneering stockman, it was that of Phil (surname withheld to protect his identity - the photo won't), with his 'old boy' out, taking a leak on the South Australian side of the border. What the hell was he thinking? Any good Victorian knows that the South Australian side of the border is the better side.
After a laugh we moved on and headed towards the Olary / Manna Hill area where there's the famous Hills Hoist (clothesline) in the middle of nowhere. As we approached Olary, a town now with just a population of three, it was clear that something special was happening. A collection of bikes had gathered on the road outside of the Olary Hotel. In my interview with Andrew Schmidt of ABC Radio Broken Hill a few weeks earlier, he had made a passing comment to someone called Sam at the Olary Hotel, saying he should get the BBQ out because the bikes were coming through. I thought nothing of it.
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| The Olary Hotel, a place of great character and now a reason to do the Barrier Highway. |
Sam, it turned out, was the owner of the pub along with his wife Jan. The crowd had gathered out the front of the pub as Sam and Jan had put on a BBQ breakfast, at their own cost with all proceeds going to the Long Ride 2016. It was a beautiful gesture, they're both lovely, kind hearted people. The Olary pub no gives me reason to redo the Barrier Highway and stay somewhere other than either end of it.
It was a great chance to catch up with other riders and learn some of the history of the region. Chance meetings like this are what travelling are all about, the journey, not the destination.
On good spirit we continued on, the spirit was tarnished a little as I realised that the clothesline in the middle of nowhere was no longer there, just the lower half, the part with the winder on it. A part of my felt great regret, seeing the clothes hoist was always something a little bit special, something that would make you laugh as you wondered why the hell it was there and who would create such a simple yet wonderful thing. It was now gone, I'm glad I had seen it a few times.
We continued on, in a south westerly direction heading for the former railway hub of Peterborough, a favourite town with a lot of character, and great community spirit. Getting closer to it we came across something I had never seen before, a quarantine stop at a town called Oodla Wirra.
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| The first time I've seen a quarantine crossing like this. |
This was sort of like a border crossing between countries. We weren't asked for passports or carnets but were asked to declare if we had any fruit, vegetables or grape vines. Anyone who has travelled the south eastern area of Australia will know that often you pass into areas where they are trying to prevent fruitfly infestations, often these are just signs and roadside bins to dispose of the offending items, to see an actual checkpoint was something different.
We weren't going to dispose of our fruit so we stopped and started eating, banana after banana. Once gone the skins were disposed of. I'm sure the man posted to work at the station was having a good laugh, yet why waste good fruit? We rode on.
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| That's a lot of wood. |
The next stop was Peterborough. I've told the story of this place twice before, with its rich history in both Australian railways and how it shaped mining and farming in both South Australia and New South Wales (see previous posts), so I won't go into it again. It was however a great opportunity to see the motorcycle museum and grab a bite to eat before taking on the last 130km before hitting the overnight stop of Port Augusta.
This part of the days ride saw us head into the southern reaches of the Flinders Ranges, ironically a hundred kilometres or so before we had already reached the highest altitude we would pass for the day, in fact the highest of the ride so far. This was close to the town of Orroroo, famous for having one of the largest (not tallest) trees in Australia. With a trunk diameter of over 10 metres, and measured at over a metre above the ground, this thing is massive and well worth a look.
The ride through the lower reaches of the Flinders Ranges was great, there's a stretch of fantastic twisties that roller-coaster through the undulating hills. The scenery is brilliant and as you come over the top and look at the higher reaches of the Spencer Gulf bordered by the mountains on the other side it takes your breath away. As we headed towards the industrial outer area of Port Augusta I couldn't help but think, "what the hell created a landscape that looked like this?"
Port Augusta is an interesting city. Although it is more about serving the state through electricity generation and has a rather industrial feel, it does have a rich history and is quite beautiful with many older and historic buildings. It also seems that the communities has a strong commitment to bettering the area. Sam Johnson, the mayor of Port Augusta, addressed the Long Ride members outlining what he sees as the city's future, as well as thanking the work that the Long Riders do.
After a few beers it's off to bed. The motel, the Acacia Ridge, is quite nice although older styled but one thing that caught me out was the toilet roll dispenser - one of the those large industrial looking things. Not good. They're designed for scrunchers, not a civilised folder like me.
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